Israel Oks Military Shipment To Palestinians

JERUSALEM — Israel said Wednesday it had authorized a shipment of 25 armored vehicles and 1,000 rifles to bolster a promised Palestinian police crackdown on armed militants in the West Bank.

Approval of the shipment, which was proposed by Russia two year ago but stalled by Israeli opposition, was aimed at building trust with the Palestinian Authority's leaders as Israel prepares to restart formal peace negotiations with them.

Israel also will allow the Gaza Strip to resume strawberry and flower exports that have been blocked since September. The exports earn $14 million a year for the impoverished territory, according to the Palestinian Chamber of Commerce.

Both decisions were announced as Israeli and Palestinian leaders prepared for a U.S.-sponsored peace conference next week in Annapolis, Md. Palestinian and U.S. officials have been pressing Israel for concessions to improve the climate at the gathering, which is intended to muster Arab nations' support for the renewed peace effort.

Israeli opposition leaders and the country's internal security service, Shin Bet, objected to the Russian shipment, arguing that vehicles and weapons eventually could fall into the hands of Hamas and other militant groups fighting Israel.

Hamas gunmen seized control of Gaza from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah-led police forces in June, capturing large quantities of weapons that other countries had supplied to the police with Israel's approval.

Criticizing the promised new shipment, right-wing opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu told Army Radio, "We will one day see Hamas sitting on the armored vehicles, firing at us."

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert authorized the arms deal, which also includes 2 million rounds of ammunition. In preliminary peace talks, he has been telling Abbas that there can be no Israeli troop withdrawal from the West Bank unless his Palestinian police move to disarm the militias of Hamas' militias and other radical Islamic movements hostile to the Jewish state. Israeli forces withdrew from Gaza in 2005, only to receive continued cross-border rocket fire from militants there.

To advance the goal of a peace settlement, Abbas has deployed hundreds of additional police officers to West Bank cities in recent weeks. U.S. officials say the police have begun to restore order in the unruly West Bank city of Nablus.

Israeli officials said Wednesday that another 25 vehicles could be sent to Abbas' forces if they made progress against the militias.

A Hamas spokesman, Sami abu Zuhri, said Israeli approval of the arms shipment demonstrated that Abbas was working "hand in hand with the occupation" and against Palestinian "resistance." Hamas' armed wing branded the promised shipment a "Zionist gift."